Radio isn’t dead. Again. It’s alive and well on the internet. From Pandora to a dozen Mac apps that stream internet radio stations, radio is making a comeback.
What you need is an app that lets you choose from thousands of stations worldwide, and makes it easy to listen, even record radio stations. This is where cheap doesn’t work. You need an app that does.
Streaming The Internet Night Away
I was intrigued by The Fun And Pain Of Internet Radio On A Mac by Kate MacKenzie. Radioshift is my choice for internet radio streams, but from time to time I check out the competition.
miniRadio is one that caught my eye because it sits in the Mac’s Menubar, which makes it a click away, and it’s not cluttered with various and sundry features.
That said, there is one feature I demand in a Mac app that is in short supply with miniRadio.
What you’ll like is the location. Instead of a giant Mac app with 1,266 features, buttons, menus, and options, you’ll get 1,266 internet radio stations (as of today) in a very handy pull down menu from the Menubar.
Here’s what it looks like.
Click on miniRadio in the Menubar and you get just what you need (minus one thing). Sound volume control (so you don’t have to hunt elsewhere).
Click to select the Recently Listed stations, the Default Stations, and Settings.
Selecting a station is easy enough. Scroll through the list of hundreds of stations and double click to tune into a specific station.
That’s it. There’s no option to record, no optional station details, just point and click to stream an internet radio station. For $4.99, what more would you expect?
First, I’d expect miniRadio to work every time. It’s a Mac App Store app, so it’s been vetted by Apple. This one is crash happy or just doesn’t launch all too often. It’s the 21st century already. Stability and dependability are important attributes in a Mac app.
Second, there’s really not enough radio stations to choose. Yes, there’s over 1,000, but even 200,000 wouldn’t be enough if you can’t find stations you want to listen to, right? Of course, if you find 50 stations you like, then there’s enough.
The idea behind miniRadio is sound. Simple controls, ease of use, minimal price tag. It just needs to work better.
